A/N: This is my first FMA fic...please review and criticism is welcomed! This is basically based off the end of the series where the movie starts. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: Don't you hate these things? Okay, so I don't own FMA, which is a pity. BUT I do own all 51 episodes on DVD, a poster (almost), and 2 (hopefully to be 3 soon) shirts...

Chapter 1: Worries

Alphonse Heiderich stared at his work partner from across his own workdesk. They had been working together for nearly two years now, trying to build this rocket, and Al had noticed a change in his partner's work habits. At first the young man was nearly unstoppable when he worked and Al had been amazed at his eagerness to study and work, not to mention the several ideas he had formulated that turned out to be crucial to the construction of the thing, leaving Al breathless at how quickly he had picked up all this difficult material. But after some more time he changed. He became rather clumsy in his work, and the look in his eye when he studied and read through their books was seemed somehow, well--desperate. His work was rushed and filled with mistakes, and he tried to work on several different things at once, as though he was hoping that the rocket would be completed quicker that way. This often led to Al working early into the morning trying to fix the mistakes his partner had made. The man became prone to dropping things while he worked, and once when Al tried to tell him that he was putting one piece in the wrong way, he exploded on the young German boy, telling him to leave him alone when he worked. Something about a new idea he was coming up with. But lately he had been different. He hardly got anything done during the days he spent at the hanger, though his work was more accurate than it had been in ages. He barely responded when Al tried to strike up conversation, and when he did respond his tone was too happy to be natural. It was as though he had given up, lost in despair. And to add to it, his father had been missing lately. Though from what Al knew of the boy, this was the least of his worries.

"Ed?" Al called from the other side of the room, not expecting an answer. When he didn't get one, he sighed and stood up, walking over to Ed's side of the room. Ed's head was bent over the desk, his bangs hiding his eyes so that Al couldn't see them. "Ed?" he asked again, and once again there was no answer. In an attempt to get the man's attention he clapped his hands hard over Ed's head. Ed jumped and slapped his own hands against the table at the sudden noise, sending small parts flying off the desk in all directions. Al couldn't help but to laugh as Ed looked up at him, shock written in his features.

"Al?" he gasped and let out a relieved sigh, sinking back down onto the desk. "Scare me to death next time why don't you?"

"Well normally I would," smiled Al, who had now stopped laughing and now stood with one hand on his hip, studying the back of his other outstretched hand like it were the most fascinating thing in the world, "but I figure that you're still a little bit more useful alive."

With those words Ed looked around at the small materials that had flown off of his desk to their current resting spots on the floor, then to the piece he had been working on for the past week or two that should have only taken him a few days. He looked up and gave Al an embarrassed smile. "Sorry Al. I guess I've been kinda out of it lately, huh?" he apologized, looking up. Al nodded and watched as Ed looked back to the parts scattered on the ground then back to his face once more, that apologetic look still there. "I promise I'll make it up to you. I'll stay here til I get this finished."

"I was about to go get lunch." Al said, watching with sad eyes as his partner picked up the pieces on the floor. "Is there anything you'd like?" Ed shook his head. "I'm fine, thanks. Anyways, I need to get this finished," he said with a smile, pointing at the part.

That same forced, fake smile, Al thought as he grabbed his coat, putting it on as he walked out the door. He frowned. Lately whenever he asked Ed if he wanted something to eat he said 'No thanks, I'm fine'. And of course he worried about the boy. They'd become pretty good friends since they had worked together, and he was usually distant with everybody else. He bowed his head. But then again his case was a little different. He thought he had an idea about what had been bothering Ed lately, too. He had heard about this 'other world' of his once not long after they had met.

He walked along the sidewalk, hands warming in his pockets, and smiled as he thought back to the time when Ed told him. It had been an accident, actually, that he found out. He'd only needed a pen, after all.

--- flashback>

Al looked at the stack of papers that had been left on his desk when Rudolf Hess, his sponsor, had left and sighed. Great, he would be up all night signing these papers! Maybe Ed wouldn't mind to work a little late tonight. He smiled and doubted it as he rummaged through his desk for a pen. Ed was always ready to work and Al seriously believed that had he would live at the hanger and work every hour of the day had Al not forced him to leave each night when he locked up.

After searching his entire desk, Al still found no pen. "Hey Ed?" he called from where he stood. When he didn't recieve a reply, he looked over to his partners side and sighed when Ed was not there. Surely he had a pen in his desk somewhere? Not able to wait for his partner to get back, Al walked over to the desk and began searching for a pen. As he searched through Ed's desk, he found some photographs scattered about the drawer. He couldn't help it and, being the fifteen-year-old that he was, he just had to take a peek. It had been a picture of two young boys holding up an enormous fish. Apparantly they had just caught it, as the boy who appeared to be a younger version of Edward had a look of pride and excitment upon his face. His eyes dropped to the other young boy and widened, and he stared, stunned, at a boy who look exactly like him, save for the dark brown eyes and light brown hair.

Suddenly the photo was snatched out of his hand, but he was so transfixed by what he had seen, that he continued staring into the space it had been.

"Al!" he heard a voice yell at him and he flinched, immediately knowing who it was. "What are you doing looking through my desk?"

"Ed!" he said, turning around to face the glaring boy. He waved his hands in front of his face with worry as a large sweatdrop rolled down the side of his head and laughed nervously. "Sorry! Sorry! I was just looking for a pen--I didn't mean to! I'm sorry!"

To Al's relief, Ed's eyes softened as he looked from the picture back to him. "It's okay." He replaced the picture back to his desk and handed Al a pen. He took it but glanced back at Ed, unable to keep his thoughts to himself. "Why did that boy look like me?" Ed glanced back up at him from his desk and gave him a small smile. He hesitated for a moment before saying, "This may sound strange, but I'm foreign to this world. I'm from a different world, and I have a little brother who looks like you."

--- end of flashback>

Al turned and walked inside a small store, still thinking. That was all Ed had said then, but over time Al learned of his hope that a rocket would somehow bring him closer to his world. It still didn't make sense to him even after what he could get Ed to tell him, but then again he really knew nothing about this world of alchemy so he didn't have a place to talk.

He walked back out of the store a few minutes later with both his and Ed's lunch. Yeah. He had gotten Ed one even though he declined. Al knew from experience that Ed had a hard time refusing something anyone bought for him, especially when it came to himself, and smirked. Perhaps it was cruel to take advantage of this sense of politeness, but he couldn't have Ed getting weak on him. The man was a genius, after all, and without him this rocket would never get finished. His smug smirk turned into a small smile. But no, really. Ed was still his friend.